Parasuchus hislopi ( Lydekker, 1885 )

Nesbitt, Sterling J., 2011, The Early Evolution Of Archosaurs: Relationships And The Origin Of Major Clades, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2011 (352), pp. 1-292 : 18

Parasuchus hislopi ( Lydekker, 1885) , sensu Chatterjee, 1978

AGE: Late Carnian–early Norian, Late Triassic ( Chatterjee, 1978; Lucas, 1998a).

OCCURRENCE: Maleri Formation, near Maleri village, Adilabad district, Andhra Pradesh, India.

NEOTYPE: ISI R 42, nearly complete skull ( Chatterjee, 1978: pl. 8) and articulated skeleton (see Chatterjee, 2001).

REFERRED MATERIAL: ISI R 43, most of complete articulated skeleton lacking the forelimbs and the anterior portion of the skull.

REMARKS: Parasuchus hislopi had confusing taxonomic history ( Chatterjee, 1978) that is continued today ( Lucas et al., 2007b). The nondiagnostic holotype was replaced by a neotype (ISI R 42) with approval from the ICZN (Opinion 2045) following the application of Chatterjee (2001). As a result, I score characters only from the two nearly complete skeletons described and illustrated by Chatterjee (1978). The two articulated skeletons represent the most complete phytosaurs known to date. Additionally, Parasuchus is important because it has been found as one of the most primitive phytosaurs in phylogenetic analyses of Phytosauria (see Lucas et al., 2007b, for references).

KEY REFERENCE: Chatterjee, 1978.